Phillip M. Brumfield - Repeat Sex Offender

A Pleasant Hope man indicted last week on a federal charge of possessing child pornography is the same man who drew the ire of local parents last year for allegedly masturbating in front of children.

In May 2008, a group of parents flooded a Pleasant Hope Board of Aldermen meeting, demanding action against Phillip M. Brumfield, 58.

Among the allegations was that Brumfield showed his penis to a neighbor girl monthly for several years.

The girl, Amber Bell, allegedly told authorities that in March or April 2008, she was in her driveway when Brumfield again came out of his house, masturbating.

"She said that Brumfield told her to come over and that he had a big king-sized bed that they could have sex on and told her to bring her friends and he would show them how to 'do it right,' and that he would even videotape it for her," said a probable cause statement used to charge Brumfield with felony enticement of a child last year.

That case is scheduled to go to trial in 2010.

In the meantime, Brumfield faces a federal charge.

In an indictment returned last week, a grand jury found probable cause that he was in possession of child pornography on May 28, 2008, a day after he was charged with child enticement.

The federal indictment alleges that Brumfield was in possession of child pornography on May 28, 2008. The indictment also contains a forfeiture provision, which would require Brumfield to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the alleged offense, including four computes, eight computer floppy disks, 45 CDs and a VHS camcorder.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"

.........Sarah Tofte